Gregor and the Sinister Dreams
by Luana012
Summary: Lizzie has been having strange dreams that no-one but her - in the Overland - knows of. But when she finally tells the rest of the family what they are about, will it be enough to convince them to go back to the Underland, or will the horror in them be too much? Set two months after the Code of Claw. Also, they stayed in New York because of his Grandma's poor health.
1. Chapter 1: The Hints

Gregor awoke with a start. He still wasn't used to the nightmares, but they were still there. He had them almost every night, the exceptions being the nights in which he didn't sleep at all.

His nightmares of falling into space had been replaced by the nightmares of the battle with the Bane. The white rat's last battle. The battle in which Gregor had gotten those scars on his chest. The battle in which Ares had died.

Ares. Gregor still couldn't accept that he was gone. It was like a part of _him_ was gone. Sometimes he could just about feel the bat's claw in his hand, but he knew that that part would never come back.

Gregor had lost himself completely since he came back to the Overland. It was too big a part of his life to let it go, just like that. He cared about the Underland too much. The only two bits of reality, of himself, that he was clinging on to were Boots's clicky cockroach talking and his scars. They seemed like the only real bits of life these days. Sometimes, he would tell Boots to talk like Temp just to revive himself with her clicks. The scars just reminded him of too much pain to look at them too often.

Gregor took out the picture of him and Luxa. The one taken in the museum. Right before they had kissed. He stared longingly at her face, knowing that he would probably never see her for real again.

Gregor heard a soft sob coming from the kitchen. He got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. Lizzie was quietly crying, covering her face with her hands. Besides calming himself, he sometimes had to comfort Lizzie. She had become good friends with the sarcastic grouch Ripred, the rat, and missed him very much.

"Hey, Liz, what's up?" he asked. Ever since leaving the Underland, his voice lacked energy and happiness. It was like he left his happiness there. Just like he left most of his life there. It was strange to think that about a year and a half ago he had dreaded going back to the Underland, because now he would give just about anything to go back at least one more time.

Lizzie looked up, her eyes red and sad. "Nightmare" she explained. Almost the whole family had been having nightmares, save Boots, who didn't understand that they were never going back again, and his grandma, who was too confused and ill. They all shared the nightmares with the rest of the family, except Lizzie. She never told anyone what they were about. If someone asked her about a nightmare, she would just shake her head and cry even more, sometimes bringing panic attacks. Her panic attacks increased once they left the Underland. No matter how they had dreaded it in the past, no matter what bad things happened there, it was too important for them to simply forget it, like it never happened.

"So, when are you going to tell me what those dreams are about?" Gregor asked, leaning on a chair.

Lizzie's eyes welled up with even more tears. "How many times do I have to tell you, Gregor? I'm not allowed to – I mean, I can't!" Lizzie started trembling once the words left her mouth.

"All right, I won't ask again if you just tell me one thing - _why_ can't you tell me? You just said that – that you're not _allowed_. What do you mean by that?" Gregor said "you mean someone's forbidding you, or what?"

Lizzie looked at Gregor, getting up from her chair. She muttered something that he couldn't make out and collapsed in a heap on the ground, fainting from shock.


	2. Chapter 2: the Message

**Hi everyone! Thanks to all who read the first chapter! I just want to say, the more reviews I get, the sooner I'll post!**

**I DO NOT OWN THE UNDERLAND CHRONICLES**

**LuLu (my nickname)**

Gregor immediately rushed to Lizzie and shook her shoulders. She had always had panic attacks about once a day, but she rarely fainted. It scared Gregor to death whenever she did. There was no denying it now; she had certainly let something slip. Something important by the looks of it. Gregor carried Lizzie over to the couch and settled her on it. He then woke his parents, who ran, terrified, over to Lizzie.

By the time Lizzie woke, Boots was up, too, and it was only half past four in the morning. Lizzie was clutching the arm of the sofa and panting hard.

"What happened, baby, are you okay? Do you want to tell us something?" Grace told her daughter, stroking her hair.

"Just – Gregor," she told her parents. The room cleared out except for Lizzie, Gregor, and, of course, Boots.

"Me too, Liz-ee, tell Boots, too," Boots chanted, jumping up and down in anticipation.

"Okay, Boots, you too," Lizzie said. She was starting to calm down. "Gregor, first, you and Boots tell me why you want to go back" she didn't have to say where. They already knew.

"Me first!" Boots squealed "see Temp, see Dul-cee, see Hazard! And Luxa! And Aurora!"

"Okay, Boots. Now Gregor" Lizzie continued. She was unnaturally calm.

"Well, like Boots, I just want to see my friends again. And the Underland is just too big a part of me," Gregor said. But there was one more thing that he didn't want to share with anyone. Lizzie sensed this immediately.

"Is that all?" Lizzie asked, a bit confused. "I know there is more, Gregor, just tell me"

Gregor reddened a bit "That's all!" he lied.

"Gregor, I know it's not all, so tell me before I find out myself. You don't know how hard this is, what I'm going to tell you. Why do you have to complicate it even more?" Lizzie said.

"Okay, okay… I…I'm in love," said Gregor, blushing even more. He really hadn't planned to tell anyone, but it seemed like he had to, so he might as well admit it.

Lizzie tried to conceal a smirk, but Gregor knew that she had been suspecting this. "Okay, so, I know it's Luxa, don't ask how. Now, to get to the point…" Lizzie started shaking again. She had been acting more and more like Nerissa, Luxa's emaciated, shaky, sometimes sinister cousin. Now Gregor was starting to get worried about her.

"Lizzie, can you even bring up the subject without fainting?" Gregor asked. He hadn't even got the words out when he wished he hadn't said them. Lizzie started panicking again.

"You okay, Liz-ee?" Boots said, getting a bit anxious.

"Yeah, Boots, I'm fine," said Lizzie, calming down. She took a deep breath and started to explain. "Listen, you know the way Nerissa can see the future? She has some visions…"

"Yeah, Liz, I know" said Gregor. He hoped that Nerissa hadn't somehow passed her "gift" on to Lizzie, because, according to Ripred, Nerissa's visions weren't true, so it would mean madness.

"I know you don't believe in prophecies, but they came true. You killed the warrior." said Lizzie, sensing that Gregor didn't believe Nerissa. How on earth did she read his mind like that?

"She told me that she once had a vision…in code. Not the code of claw, or she wouldn't have needed me. She wrote it on a piece of paper and gave it to me. I spent days working on it, and I finally cracked it. I won't bore you with the details. Anyway, when I decoded the message…here, read for yourself." She said, pulling out a strip of paper. The coded letters had the actual letters above them.

THE DEATH OF THE REASONS FOR RETURN WILL

TGE DEATG LC TGE REASLNS CLR RETQRN XIKK

COME UNLESS RETURNS THE DEAD WARRIOR AND

BLME QNKESS RETQRNS TGE DEAD VARRILR AND

THE PRINCESSES

TGE ORINBESSES

It took Gregor a moment to read the message, but all he felt was confused. He saw what had been tormenting Lizzie, though. The only two words that you could read without cracking the code were "DEAD" and "AND". Imagine having to read that all day, knowing it is about you and your loved ones.

"What exactly does it mean?" asked Gregor, feeling a bit dumb. His eight-year-old sister knew more than he did.

"It means…" Lizzie paused. "Our reasons for return are: Ripred, Temp, Hazard, Dulcet, Luxa, Aurora and Underland. Okay? Well…somehow, the end, the death, of those reasons will come if you, Gregor, the "Dead Warrior" and me and Boots, the "Princesses" do not return. I cracked the code using the words "SINISTER DREAMS". The dreams were about this message. We have to go back, Gregor, or the end of the Underland, along with everything we love in it, will come.

**I feel evil, leaving it on a cliffhanger…**

**So, the first person that reviews gets a sneak-peek of the next chapter**

**Well, I'm spoiling you all, 2 chapters in 3 days…**

**LuLu**


	3. Chapter 3: The Deaths

**Guys, I am sooo sorry, but I really was busy. I hope I get a few reviews and, hopefully, you won't have forgotten my story?**

**LuLu**

"Lizzie, what do you _mean_ that they're going to die?" Gregor asked. This was bad. If Lizzie started having what Nerissa did, it was going to be really bad. Nerissa was almost maddened by her gift. If Lizzie, delicate, vulnerable Lizzie started having these kind of visions, Gregor had no idea what they might do to her.

"That's where the dreams come in even more. On top of that code, I always have the same dream, our family and the ones we love in the Underland, staring at this symbol thing on a stone wall. Then all of these things flash around really fast, before I can even make sense of them," Lizzie squeezed her eyes shut and continued. "First, this crystal cave, like a beach…then the council room in Regalia…a cave with some sort of skin on the ground…a broken stone bridge…the edge of a cliff and the cliff itself, then some lands close to Regalia which I saw when Hermes flew me there, a volcanic island...by the way, all of these are underground…some sort of maze…the arena in Regalia and some place near a very unstable stone arch, a plant with yellow pods, a…some sort of field, I guess, a rock formation that looks like a Queen's head, a very steep, very deep tunnel, a huge volcano. An ash-covered cave, a blood and ash covered cave, then the lands near Regalia again, then a river beside Regalia, yet another cave, and, finally, a very dark cave. I have no idea what these things even mean, but…maybe you do. Gregor? Gregor, are you…alright?"

Gregor seemed to have lost the ability to move halfway through her little speech. He had linked what these things had in common. These were the places in which he had seen death. That last, dark cave…Ares, the Bane….

"Lizzie, is that all?" Gregor said. He was surprised at how weak his voice sounded.

"No. After these places, it all goes dark for a minute or two, and then they start again. I see the arena, a tunnel, a place in the jungle, a hospital, the code room, the museum, and in between Central Park and the entrance to the Underland. Then…I see blood. Everywhere. And that symbol forms again, a line with a flamingo's beak, and then I wake up."

Gregor couldn't speak. He was still trying to link it all together, the places of death, the scythe, the message, and the blood. And suddenly, a sound familiar to him started. A loud scratching of claws in the walls. Rat claws.

**I think I should promise you to update without a huge break…**

**Review please!**


	4. Chapter 4: The Decision

Gregor instantly put a protective arm each around Boots and Lizzie and started to think furiously. What did all of the places Lizzie had mentioned, not the death ones, the others, have in common? They were all in the Underland, yes, but it must be something more than that. Boots looked a bit scared about the rat noise and he was quite startled himself, but Lizzie looked calmer than she had had in months. Happy, even.

"It's like when Mama and Gregor and Boots go down whee," said Boots. Gregor really had no idea about what was happening, or why the rats were here now and hadn't been before, but he knew what to do, because he knew what had stopped the rats once, when the had went to find the cure for the plague.

"Lizzie, get a flashlight," Gregor said. He knew that his parents would freak out, but he just had to talk to Nerissa about these visions she and Lizzie had had. What if Nerissa had passed the "gift", more like curse, on to Lizzie, or had it been there before, and Nerissa had just "unlocked" it? He didn't know.

Lizzie looked at him and understood what he meant. She grabbed a flashlight from one of the coat hooks and unlocked the door. Boots, however, looked confused, so Gregor used a single, simple sentence that meant so much, that contained so much, that he trembled slightly at the idea of using those words again. But when he spoke, his words were clear, and they were full of an energy that he had not felt for months.

"We're going back to the Underland."

**Here's my deal. If I get three more reviews, I will post a really long chapter as a special treat. So, review away, people! I feel so loved and appreciated when I get a review!**

**Lulu**


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